James Aldridge

James Aldridge, born 1971 in Kent, UK, lives and works in Sweden.

Aldridge’s paintings are influenced by imagery from natural history field guides, Renaissance landscapes, John James Audubon’s watercolours and heavy metal music. Inky backgrounds, washes, and soft smoky areas of paint are offset by more graphic and silhouette forms, and his juxtaposition of realistic and heavily stylised depictions of nature invite us to reassess our relationship with the natural world.“I live in Sweden now, in a very rural area, in a forest. My relationship with Nature has always been important to me. It’s something I can’t explain to myself. Even living here it’s something I feel slightly outside of, something that’s slightly mysterious. There’s something very melancholic about the Swedish landscape. You do get a sense of the folklore and all the associations Nature has with that kind of framework. There is a spiritual, religious belief which I don’t actually have. It’s the idea of making sense of something that is too hard to comprehend. I am really interested in the idea of belief and how that is manifested in images. I’m trying to believe my images as I make them. So the elements in the painting can have a real physical charge or reaction, which is what I’m seeking. Rather than a narrative it’s more like a psychological space; with a feeling or atmosphere which comes from them. Quote from James Aldridge, CV/Visual Arts Research Archive, Interviews – Artists, 2010

James Aldridge received his B.A. in Fine Art (Painting) from Manchester Metropolitan University (1990-93) and his M. A. (Painting) from Royal College of Art (1993-95).